FIFA 16 Ultimate Team is still a game of luck and willingness to spend

FIFA 16 Ultimate Team is still a game of luck and willingness to spend. If you’re lucky enough to open packs that contain truly useful cards and great players, you’re team will be fine. If you’re willing to spend all kinds of money collecting the players and upgrades you want, you’ll also be fine. If neither of those things happens for you, well, as usual, prepare for growing pains.

On the plus side, there’s now a loan program in FUT that lets you try high-end players. That leads to some advantages in the early stages of your Ultimate Team’s lifespan.

Loan players are exactly what they sound like. Their cards come with a finite number of matches attached, and once they’re up you can’t increase them and they leave your team until you unpack them or decide to purchase them permanently. So be sure to save that Messi loan card for when you really need it.

Everything else remains in stasis. FIFA Ultimate Team is still wonderful, but marred by inexplicably shit menus that make every moment of management a tedious chore. I’ve yet to spend any real money on players, but I did last year and likely will again. I haven’t played the Be A Pro mode – sorry, but it’s never been my thing. I hear it’s broadly unchanged.

Now, we imagine some of you might not agree with this assessment of the Ultimate Team and our proposed changes, but it’s needed to freshen up the mode and bring some semblance of sanity back to proceedings. Like we stated above, it’s a tricky one for EA in terms of everything. Do they make major changes to what is their most popular mode in FIFA and risk upsetting some fans, or do they keep it the same again and keep the money coming in?

Conversely, Ultimate Team’s end game still involves making the cheesiest team possible. The Victor Ibarbo’s, Emmanuel Emenike’s and Romelu Lukaku’s of UT’s world still run things since there’s a major emphasis on speed and strength. So, if you haven’t been a fan of UT’s faster, high scoring take on the sport, this year’s mode does little to change your mind.